Monday, December 21, 2015

In case you missed the
novel and the wildly successful film, this is a love story about an Italian war
bride stifling in Iowa and a lonely traveling photographer who find each other
in a four day passionate affair.

In this musical version, book writer Marsha
Norman manages to bring an honest human dimension to this inherently
sentimental tale. By making her husband and children major characters, and by
bringing in townspeople who understand the need for something to brighten our
lives, the tuneful saga is fully fleshed out.

The national tour cast is
headed by Elizabeth Stanley as Francesca and Andrew Samonsky as Robert. Both
are powerful singers although, with her operatic range, it was sometimes
difficult to understand the lyrics while with Samonsky’s beautiful voice words were
crystal clear.

The added dimension of Francesca’s family is fully delineated by
Cullen R. Titmas as her kind down-to-earth husband, Caitlin Houlahan as her
ingenuous daughter, and Dave Thomas Brown her headstrong son.

Katie Klaus as
Robert’s ex-wife gives insight into his character through a lovely solo
ballad, and Mary Callanan and David Hess are amusing as Francesca's nosy but friendly
neighbors.

Bartlett Sher’s original Broadway
direction is recreated admirably by Tyne Rafaeli, and Michael Yeargan’s
original set design is adapted wonderfully by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

What
a marvelous show! If anyone recalls the magical sounds of the Righteous
Brothers get yourself over to James A. Zimmerman’s new musical and see them again.
It’s a memory play as told by one of them (Paul Cady) after the duo have ended
their run.

You are catapulted back in time as the two young men playing Bill Medley
(Morgan Lauff) and Bobby Hatfield (Brenden MacDonald) are amazing. Their voices,
their looks, their eager manner, are reminders of the days when singers grew to
greatness through their own talent and enthusiasm.

Their
#1 hit songs: “You’ve Lost that Lovin’
Feeling” and “You’re my Soul and My
Inspiration” will ring in your ears. Then when Bobby, demanding the right
to be more than back-up to deep-voiced Bill, takes the stage and sings “Unchained Melody” and “Ebb Tide” I guarantee chills will run
down your spine. What voices, what style, what talent! If you ever fell in love
to the rhythm & blues don’t miss this.Remember the two guys with “blue-eyed
soul” and smile.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

John
Patrick Shanley’s romantic play is set in contemporary Ireland, after a funeral,
where two old people talk of death with placid assurance their time is coming,
and so what. Meanwhile their offspring, who fought as children, are now locked
into an emotional stand-off.

Anthony and Rosemary appear to be in love, yet are
ferociously tongue-tied by their Irish culture’s demand for dispassion. Set on
Irish farmlands, it’s a heart warming and almost tender love story in the
Chekhovian vein. Although we are used to seeing plays about the bashful youth
of Ireland, somehow, in 2013, these young lovers seem like throwbacks to a time
long before TV and the Internet robbed us of our naïveté.
Which perhaps is a good thing.

Under Randall Arney’s smooth direction, the fine actors create an enchanting mood.
Dan Donohue is wonderful as a nervous lad with his head in the clouds while
digging miserably in the turf, while Jessica Collins is every inch the familiar
spunky Irish lass of legend. Jarlath Conroy is a gruff sentimentalist trying to
hang on to his fast disappearing manliness, and Robin Pearson Rose is a
dry-eyed widow ready to submit to all of life’s travails.

Impressive
set and atmosphere (with lots of rain!) created by Anthony T. Fanning, with the aid of lighting by Daniel Ionazzi
and sound by Jonathan Burke. Costume Design by David Kay Mickelsen.

In the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen
Playhouse, 10886
Le Conte Avenue, LA, through December 20. Tickets: 310.208.5454 or www.geffenplayhouse.com.

Monday, November 16, 2015

What happens to a family
where the mother, a timid yet intelligent woman, lives in terror of ever leaving
the safety of their home? In Tom Baum’s revelatory play the subject is agoraphobia
and how a family, hoping to calm the fears of the matriarch, create terrors of
their own through lies and equivocation.

She lives with her ear cocked at all
times for the sounds of invasion, while the domineering father thinks he’s
being caring by helping her hide from life.

When their only child returns home
with her teenage daughter, family secrets start to be exposed. While
the daughter, whose marriage and career have fallen apart, reaches for
meditative help in this maelstrom of emotion, it is through the blunt
words of a candid teenager that real life intrudes into
this self-induced prison.

The superb cast are led by Joanna
Miles, faultless as a woman trapped into society’s role of female helplessness
and dependence. David Selby, is magnificent as the father, a raging bull with
the heart of a child; Anna Nicholas is excellent as the impatient but
responsible daughter, and Lizzy Rich is charming as a cheeky yet tender teen
who has secrets of her own.

Sensitively directed by Asaad
Kelada, with set and lighting by Tom Meleck, sound by Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski
and costumes by Betty Pecha Madden. Produced by Laura Hill.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Everybody loves a magic
show and the illusions that actor and super magician Albie Selznick demonstrates
certainly amaze and delight. There is the levitating pretty lady, the live
doves that appear and disappear, the swallowed razor blades, the Houdini escape
trick, and card tricks to baffle us all.

Also, Selznick has added the story of
his childhood and explains how, after losing his father mysteriously at an
early age, he started on a lifelong search, through illusion, for an invisible
man. It’s a poignant story and, while it humanizes his dedication to magic, it sometimes
puts a pall on the otherwise mischievous goings on.

There is one audience participation
segment that seemed suspiciously contrived when a large white ball morphed into
an all-knowing Oracle and interacted with a member of the audience. At this
performance, the gal in the hot seat seemed to be a plant and the segment lacked
the very magic it proposed to reveal. However, if you bring some young people maybe
you, or one of them, will be selected to meet the Oracle and that episode will
prove to be smoke and mirrors indeed.

Monday, November 9, 2015

From
over 100 submissions, GLO chose these five excellent plays, all written and directed
by local theater women. Not to play favorites, here they are in the order
performed.

THE
PLAN by Katherine James. Two young gals, former best friends, face up to their
reason for their split when each of them gave up their shared dream to pacify family
demands. Zoë Lillian and Kyra Morling. Directed by Branda Lock.

ALL
ABOUT HAROLD by Diane Grant. Three women share happy memories of the romantic peripatetic
Harold who managed to be their dream-man before slipping away to other shores. Amy
Stoch, Varda Appleton and hilarious Michelle Simek. Directed by Laura Steinroeder.

FIDDLIN’
ON THE MOUNTAINTOP by Robin Byrd. A poignant solo performance of a young country girl
who, all alone, faces the loss of her beloved parent and survives through a love of music.
Bravura performance by Shanel N. Moore. Directed by Julianne Homokay.

VITAL
RECORDS by Alex Dilks Pandola. It’s a Kafkaesque comedy of trying to get
service at some Legal Records Bureau where the attendants weirdly resemble each
other while their attitudes are all to familiarly officious. Kate Torri with Gayla
Johnson who is sublime in three gleeful roles. Directed by Miranda Stewart.

GENTLEMEN’S
PACT by Karen Howes. How does a husband react when a family friend shows up
wanting to marry his wife? In this comedy he gives it serious thought, until the
wife shows up and gives her heated opinion. Eric Toms, Joni Allen and masterful
Daniel Riordan. Directed by Michelle Joyner.

About Me

Born in UK, started in theater as actress on Broadway then playwright/director in UK & the USA, Broadway Critic for The Hollywood Reporter in the 1980s. Artistic director at theatres in NY and Hollywood. Wrote musicals with ASCAP composer-lyricist husband, Ralph Martell, all produced in NY & California. For 10 years directed outdoor Shakespeare in Manhattan through NY Dept Cultural Affairs. Play HARRIET TUBMAN HERSELF starring Christine Dixon, now in its 9th year. Contest winner for plays in Okla, W, Virginia & Texas. Books CLASSICS 4 KIDS and SHAKESPEARE IN AN HOUR published by Shakespeare, Inc. AWARDS: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) playwriting grant; 5 grants for children's musicals and 8 NY/DCA for Shakespeare productions. Member DGA, AEA & LA Press Club. Lectures on "The Impact of Yiddish Theatre on American Theatre." Co-founder NY Women in Film & TV. Monthly theater column in NOT BORN YESTERDAY California senior paper. Email: dramatist2006@yahoo.com